Originally Posted by
doc-haz
Wow!! This is absolutely terrible. Having recently bought a Mercedes CPO it makes me real worried about having to deal with a situation like this. Any updates from the OP?
I briefly owned a 2011 MB W204 C300 4Matic with just 16k mileage in 2014, and my experience with Mercedes was very positive. The dealer staff were always very humble, took care of me and fully addressed anything that came up while I had the car. Basically I bought a really low mileage car from Carmax, but it still had the balance of its factory warranty for another year plus a few months. The only reason I did not keep that car was that I was misinformed on warranty extension, and it was too small for a new addition to the family.
I bought the car independently and while the original warranty transfers just fine, I wasn't able to buy the extended warranty through MB as I wasn't the original owner. I can't recall if this was a miscommunication or if something got lost in translation but it was the case. Nonetheless, they offerred a 3rd party one at a very generous discount when my original was set to expire, but it was still a tad too expensive. On the model I had, at higher mileage the transmissions were know to have issues and it's a $5k fix. I was hoping to protect myself from that while making payments. Then again, this was 2014 and doubt the car would have had that many miles to be worried anyways. Oh well.
When I first bought the car, I took it straight to MB for inspection and any warranty/recall work. They tuned the car up, fixed a few things there were bulletins on, re flashed the car with latest software and the dealer team gave me their personal discounts on the service atop a coupon. I think I was back six months later because I broke the air vent with one of those dash/phone holders. They fixed it quickly and gave me a newer loaner. Audi, granted I haven't gone to the dealer in ten years now, was ok. Quality issues that were blatant like soft touch peeling, things snapping and so on, they did not help me. Other things, only because my service rep at the dealer would advocate for me. Otherwise, just not sure. I bought my CPO at 36k. Was back in for 45k service on the house, then never went back unless warranty issues. I was already using a local shop for my VWs and just felt more relaxed there. Plus it was more convenient.
The sales end impressed me with my local MB dealer. When I decided that a C300 was what I could afford and had to be pre owned, I did visit and discuss CPO with them. The premium put the cars out of my budget and I told them Carmax has a ton of these cars off lease from MB with the balance of factory warranty. I drive 6-8k miles a year as I was keeping my B6 and have a Subaru as well. So I was more interested in price. They were polite in trying for my business and said well if you buy elsewhere, we'll make sure your car checks out and we hope you service it here. Maybe next time we'll facilitate you on the sales side, make it generous for you to trade up ;). That is service. Just my experience but to me, there's a reason MB doesn't really fight against BMW or VAG. Sort of have their own way of doing things IMHO. If you have concerns, I'd go discuss the CPO program with the manager or whomever is most knowledgeable. For me it was the finance managers. My dealer had two at the time and they were both up to speed on everything to do with warranty.
I also made the mistake of over worrying without a true cause. At 16k mileage I was worried about a transmission failure people with much more miles than I were having. Plus the dealer was aware of my concerns and did whatever they could in servicing the transmission and getting the latest software on it to make sure it was in good form. When I sold the car it had 21k mileage after 1.5 years with me. I say just enjoy your MB. I'll be joining you soon I bet. I am looking at the E class 4matics.
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